82 The original condition of Adam before

The original condition of Adam before he sinned.

We read from the first part of Genesis 1: 27, ‘And Elohim created man in His own image, in the image of Elohim He created him.’ There is the belief among our Jewish Brothers that before Adam sinned, not all souls were collectively in him, but only the souls (or lives) of Israel. If Adam had not sinned, the nations of the world (goyim) would never have come into existence. After Adam’s sin, the souls of all the nations became intermingled within him; if Adam had not sinned, the nations of the world would never come into existence as per Sefer Likutim, (Tehilim 32).

After Adam sinned, YHVH told him and his wife that they were made from the dust of the ground and that they would eventually return to dust, when they die. They disobeyed Him when contrary to His command, they chose to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, knowing that there were two trees in the midst of the Garden, as we read from Genesis 2: 9, in this way: “And out of the ground YHVH Elohim caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Notice that Elohim did not forbid our original parents to eat from the tree of life, but Satan deceived Eve to take and eat from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. YHVH did not slaughter a lamb to cover their private parts with lamb skin after Adam sinned, as some believe and some modern English translations of the Scriptures assert, but He covered their bodies with skin (derma). YHVH did not start the sacrificial system for sin at that stage. The sacrificial system for sin was only introduced when the Levites replaced every first-born of Israel as priests, after the Israelite’s sin involving the golden calf. YHVH also later showed Abraham when He told him to sacrifice Isaac his only begotten son that He will eventually provide Himself (as) the Lamb as a sacrifice to buy back the piece of the Promised Land the house of Israel lost due to idolatry. In addition, He showed Abraham that He will pay our indebtedness due, resulting from our sins, as our Kinsman Redeemer.

Initially Adam and Eve were destined to live forever; they were created in the image of Elohim (as per Genesis 1: 26 & 27) and looked like Yahshua who is the image of Elohim, as confirmed in Colossians 1: 15 and 2 Corinthians 4: 4. So in the beginning after the creation of man, Adam looked like the transfigured Yahshua, covered in light as recorded in Matthew 17: 2, as follows: ‘And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.’ This is also how YHVH is pictured in Psalm 104 verse 1 and the first part of verse 2, in this way: ‘Bless YHVH, O my soul! O YHVH my Elohim, Thou art very great; Thou art clothed with splendor and majesty, (2) covering Thyself with light as a cloak.’ When our original forefathers sinned, their light (אור) covering was removed and they were covered in skin (עור), which would eventually cause their death, as recorded in Genesis 3: 19 - 21, as follows: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. (20) Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. (21) And YHVH Elohim made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” The fact that we are now covered in skin is witnessed in the book of Job, where Job talks about his believe in the resurrection of the dead in Job 19: 26 & 27, saying: “Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see Elohim; (27) Whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes shall see and not another. My heart faints within me.” A second witness to this fact comes from 2 Corinthians 5: 1 – 4, in this way: ‘For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from Elohim, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (2) For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; (3) in as much as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. (4) For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.’ Prior to this sin, Adam and Eve were covered with light and if only they partook of the tree of life, they would have lived forever, but after Adam sinned he forfeited their garments of light and was clothed in garments of skin (explained in ‘Etz Chaim, Gate 150’).

It is written in the Zohar that a ‘garment of woe’ clung to Adam. The difference between light and skin is also the numerical value of sorrow (transliterated as ‘Yagon’ in Hebrew). The difference between light (אור) transliterated as ‘ohr’ in Hebrew and skin (עור) also transliterated as ‘ohr’ in Hebrew is the numerical value between Aleph and Ayin, namely 69, which is also the numerical value of sorrow, but also of poverty (transliterated as ‘Ebion’ in Hebrew). This is why we ask in the Amidah prayer, that YHVH ‘remove from us sorrow and groan. Reign over us, You YHVH alone with kindness and compassion. Justify us through judgment. Blessed are You, YHVH, the King who loves righteousness and judgment.’ The numerical value of ‘Yagon’ (69) will be removed and we will again be covered in light. What could have had such a dramatic effect on the outcome of the entire world? It all depended on the Spiritual food that they ate – the saying, “You are what you eat” is therefore quite true. Adam’s choice of eating from the Tree of Knowledge excluded his eating of the Tree of Life. Therefore we live in a world of good and evil, which came forth from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. We need to understand that eternal life that comes from the Tree of Life has always been available. It is mankind who left the Tree of Life, not it that left us. It is therefore incumbent upon each one of us to restore the Tree of Life, eat of its fruit, and rectify our world. The statement of belief in the coming of Messiah is simply not enough. We must do something and thereby bring about the final redemption, as confirmed in Hosea 5: 15, as follows: ‘I will go away and return to My place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction (or tribulation) they will earnestly seek Me.’ In fact Moses commanded us to observe Torah in Deuteronomy 33: 4 – it is an inheritance for the entire congregation of Jacob, not only for the house of Judah. We read from Psalm 78: 67 & 68[1], that after YHVH rejected the house of Israel because of idolatry, He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion whom He loved. But because of His promises to our fathers in the faith, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob YHVH is again choosing a remnant of the lost ten tribes, in order to reestablish the Tabernacle of David which has fallen, and the importance for us to learn and practice Torah cannot be overly emphasized. The sin of Adam was that he decided to observe and experience the physical world at the level of intellect, and not at the level which we refer to today as extrasensory. The human intellect is a great thing, yet it is very limited. There is only so much consciousness that one can grasp with the limited abilities of human understanding.

Rav Shaul explains that those of us whom YHVH is again calling from the churches of the world, have lost the Set-apart Spirit of Elohim when our forefathers rejected His Torah and decided for themselves when and how to worship Him, but that we again receive a portion of the Divine Nature of Elohim, when we are immersed in Yahshua’s saving name in 1 Corinthians 2: 1 - 16, as follows: “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of Elohim. (2) For I determined to know nothing among you except Yahshua Messiah, and Him crucified. (3) And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. (4) And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, (5) that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of Elohim (meaning Yahshua). (6) Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; (7) but we speak Elohim’s wisdom (Chokmah) in a mystery (meaning kabbalah), the hidden wisdom, which Elohim predestined before the ages to our glory; (8) the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Master of glory; (9) but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART (or belief system) OF MAN, ALL THAT ELOHIM HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” (10) For to us Elohim revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of Elohim. (11) For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of Elohim no one knows except the Spirit of Elohim. (12) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from Elohim, that we might know the things freely given to us by Elohim, (13) which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. (14) But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of Elohim; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. (15) But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man. (16) For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF YHVH, THAT HE SHOULD INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Messiah.”

Real wisdom is knowing beyond knowing. It is as Yahshua explained in Matthew 13: 11 & 12, saying: “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. (12) For whoever has, to him shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.” Rav Shaul gave additional details of how we are reconciled to Elohim through Messiah to become part of the commonwealth of Israel once again in Ephesians 2: 11 – 19 and how we are able to become sons of Elohim and heirs of Abraham to inherit our portion of the Promised Land that we lost because of idolatry in Galatians 3: 26 – 29. The prophet Isaiah prophesied about Yahshua’s main purpose to bring back a remnant of the lost ten tribes, so that we together with our Jewish Brothers can again become part of the commonwealth of Israel, or the kingdom of Elohim to be ruled by Yahshua at His return in the near future, saying in Isaiah 49: 5 & 6: ‘And now says YHVH, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, in order that Israel might be gathered to Him (for I am honored in the sight of YHVH, and My Elohim is My strength), (6) He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’ Once we are reconciled to YHVH and our Jewish Brothers, and they accept us as equals, because we have returned to full Torah observance, we will be ready for Messiah’s return.

In Exodus 3: 14 & 15 YHVH tells Moses that He is the “I AM” – the Ever Existing or the Eternal One. Yet in John 8: 24 we read Yahshua’s words, in this way: “I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins.” In verses 34 to 36 Yahshua answered the Jews of His day, saying: “Truly, truly, I say to you, every-one who commits sin is the slave of sin. (35) And the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. (36) If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”’ However, because they are blinded to the identity of Yahshua (the right hand and set-apart arm of YHVH), they stumble over the stumbling stone or the rock of offense, as witnessed in 1 Peter 2: 6 – 9, as follows: ‘For this is contained in Scripture: “BEHOLD I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” (7) This precious value, then, is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,” (8) and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.(9) But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR Elohim’s OWN POSSESSION, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.’ Because of disobedience to Elohim’s instructions, we are cursed to suffer in this life and eventually to die.

However, as per Elohim’s promise to our father Abraham, Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us, according to what is written (in Torah), in the last part of Galatians 3: 13 & 14, in this way: ‘“CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE—“ (14) in order that in Messiah Yahshua the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit (we need the Divine Presence or Set-apart Spirit to live forever) through faith.’ That does not mean that if we go back to a life of sin, we will not be punished, as Yahshua only redeemed us from our past sins and sins that we have confessed to the Father after being immersed in Yahshua’s saving name. Later Yahshua spoke to the Jews in John 8: 56 – 58, saying: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad. (57) The Jews therefore said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” (58) Yahshua said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you before Abraham was born I am.” The Jews understood what He was saying and because He being a flesh and blood ‘human being’, they thought that He was blaspheming and wanted to stone Him. So when later He restated that being part of Elohim[2] He is Eternal in John 10: 30, saying: “I and my Father are one”; they reacted by picking up stones to stone Him. They did not believe Yahshua, but thought that He was blaspheming. Do we believe that He is the Eternal? Or do we try and explain it away by saying that He meant that He was one in mind and Spirit with YHVH? Are we prepared to contradict YHVH when He teaches in Deuteronomy 6: 4 ‘That He is One’, that He lies and that we know that He is two or three? This is not very easy or clear to understand. However we read in Isaiah 45: 15 that YHVH is our Messiah, the one who hides Himself as follows: “Truly, thou art an Elohim who hides Himself, O Elohim of Israel, Savior!” (the underlined words are transliterated in Hebrew as Elohey Yisrael Moshiya).

We read from Isaiah 59: 14 – 16 that it takes more than a man to bring equality or balance back to what has been destroyed in the Garden of Eden through sin, in this way: “And justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter. (15) Yes, truth is lacking; and he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey. Now YHVH saw, and it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice. (16) And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede; then His own arm brought salvation to Him; and His righteousness upheld Him.” YHVH redeemed us Himself – there was no man – His own arm brought Salvation to Him. As Israelites, we await a time when the final prophecies revealed to us by the Prophets will occur. The fulfilment of the mission of the united nation of Israel will be achieved with the coming (or return) of Yahshua the Messiah to rule the world from Jerusalem. It will be both a political and spiritual event. Many are surprised to learn that the 12th and 13th principles of faith of Judaism is believe in the coming of Moshiach to come and rule the world from Jerusalem, and the resurrection of the dead. We also acknowledge our doctrine of faith, and believe the time of Messiah will come again, sooner or later. Yet, belief is not enough. No one fulfills a commandment (mitzvah) simply by a statement or acknowledging correct doctrine. In order for a commandment to be correctly observed, even a commandment that is a ‘statement’ of faith, it must be coupled with ‘actions’ of faith, meant to bring the ‘statement’ into actual reality of being. The Mishnah therefore states, it is not the learning that counts, but rather the ‘action’ that counts. This is in agreement with what Rav Yaa’cov wrote in James 2:24, saying: ‘You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone.’

If we truly believe in the coming (or return) of Messiah, then we must do all we can to bring Elohim’s Kingdom to fruition, here upon earth. In order to accomplish that, we must first learn and understand what Elohim’s kingdom really is; what it will entail, and the correct way of action to accelerate its coming. Adam was specifically created to establish Elohim’s Kingdom on the earth, but failed because he partook of the forbidden tree instead of the Tree of Life available to him at that time. According to Proverbs 3 (YHVH)’s word is the tree of life and obedience to all Elohim’s instructions grant us access to the tree of life. After the house of Israel rejected Elohim’s ordained Feast Days and established their own, YHVH dispersed them into the nations of the world. However, true to prophecy and His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He is now bringing us – a remnant of the lost ten tribes of Israel back to His Torah way of life, giving us access to the Tree of Life once again, through Abraham’s one seed, Yahshua. Those Jews who remained Torah observant throughout their lives, knew what sin was, all the time, and were granted repentance every time they return to Elohim in repentance. Because we have forgotten what sin is, we have to be immersed into Yahshua’s saving name, to cleanse us form those sins we committed, in ignorance since we rejected Elohim’s Torah when Satan and his agents deceived us to believe that Torah was abolished in C*h*r*i*s*t*. Now through Messiah, we are able to return to the covenant relationship we made with Elohim, together with the house of Judah at Mount Sinai. Most of us are aware that Satan has deceived the whole world by introducing a number of religions in opposition to Nazarene Judaism, a sect of Rabbinical Judaism. We need to understand that Yahshua was not a Christian; He never attended ‘church services’ on Sunday, He never celebrated Easter or Xmas and never intended to establish a new world religion. He came specifically to bring back the lost sheep of the house of Israel to the covenant relationship they made together with the house of Judah on Mount Sinai. Yahshua came to revive and reform, not to destroy and replace the faith into which He was born.

The problem is that Christianity has defined the Messiah outside the appropriate context of Torah and we desperately need accurate knowledge brought about by an unbiased study of the four gospels to open the Jewish world and restore them to their original Hebraic context. Most people have forgotten that the Scriptures is a Hebraic book. The roots of Yahshua’s teachings are twisted and distorted outside their cultural setting and historical situation in the pseudo-intellectual jargon of Gnosticism revisited. This is a misinterpretation of Messiah that is anti-Jewish and anti-Torah. This modern day Marcionism that rejects all things Jewish, continues to exert its powerful and demonic influence in the ‘church’. It is preaching a new religion far removed from our Master’s original teachings. By studying the teachings of Yahshua it should guide and enhance true belief in the Word manifested in the flesh. It is a tragedy that the preaching of ‘simply have faith in Christ’ has replaced responding to the Master’s call of true discipleship and obedience to Torah. A Messiah robbed of His Jewishness and Torah observance resulted in a gross misunderstanding about Him and His teachings recorded in the Renewed Covenant. Christianity have literally ‘killed’ the Jewish Messiah, by destroying His links to His faith and people, and resurrected a Roman/Greek Jesus. Believers are therefore required to kill the Jew within them by the ‘doctrines of demons’, as Rav Shaul witnessed in 2 Corinthians 11: 4, saying: ‘For if one comes and preaches another Yahshua whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.’ We read a warning about those of us called from the churches of the world, who consider returning to the false churches where we came, from Hebrews 6: 4 – 6, in this way: ‘For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Set-apart Spirit, (5) and have tasted the good word of Elohim and the powers of the age to come, (6) and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of Elohim, and put Him to open shame.’

In first century Israel, the second Temple was still standing and was the center for the worship of YHVH by Israel. The animal sacrifices were still offered daily and the priests were the trustees of the Torah. Teachers of Torah were called a ‘Rabbi’, but there were no ordained ecclesiastic hierarchies. The majority of the people went up to Jerusalem for the three pilgrimage Feasts (Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot). The language of the people was Hebrew and there is an abundance of evidence that the Torah scrolls, studies in the class-room, and everyday speech was Hebrew not Aramaic. This was one of the ways the Jewish people resisted the paganism of Greece and preserved their loyalty to Torah. The Torah rooted faith in the One Elohim and a strong sense of national identity created the setting in which Yahshua taught and worked among His people. There is therefore no evidence that Yahshua did not speak Hebrew. This question of the spoken language is especially important for understanding the doctrines of Yahshua. One thing is certain Yahshua did not die for the Christian gospel or any new religion. Nor did the Jews kill Him because they were opposed to His teachings. Yahshua was killed because He as the Messiah was a threat to the Roman domination in Israel. He was put to death by a Roman Court, which used a method of execution only used by the Romans. The Romans knew that any person claiming to be the Messiah was the true King of Israel, and therefore a direct threat to the authority of Rome. Some of the Sadducees were involved in Messiah’s death, but it was for political reasons, not religious. Yahshua paid the penalty due to those of us returning to the covenant relationship we made with YHVH at Mount Sinai, but also as our Kinsman Redeemer to buy back the property we lost in the Promised Land, because of idolatry. As a result those of us whom YHVH called at this time, and have been justified by the blood of Messiah, will if we remain loyal to YHVH in a similar way to what our Torah observant Jewish Brothers do will also be glorified at Messiah’s coming. We see from Psalm 17: 15, that King David from the house of Judah knew that even when he dies, he will one day be resurrected and will once again have the light that Adam lost after he sinned, saying: ‘As for me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Thy likeness when I awake.’ We see further that Rav Yochanan, Messiah’s closest disciple also knew this about those of us from the lost sheep of Israel, who are returning to the way of Elohim, as Messiah’s modern day disciples, when he wrote in 1 John 3: 2, saying: ‘Beloved, now we are children of Elohim, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.’ Baruch HaShem YHVH!

[1] Psalm78: 67 & 68: ‘He also rejected the tent of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved.’

[2] As part of Elohim, Yahshua is Eternal as confirmed in Deuteronomy 33: 27, ‘The eternal Elohim is a dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms; and He drove out the enemy from before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’